Day 35: Twin Pines Restaurant

[byname-bynature.livejournal.com]

(From here!)

Artemis walked into the restaurant and glanced around at the decor. He wasn't impressed, but he wasn't disdainful either. He simply smiled. It was nice... for a town with a population of barely three hundred.

The boy smiled up at the person up front. "Two, if you please."

Comments

[secret-orchard.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/446999.html?thread=36522263)]

Finally, he had to admit he was too cold to stay outside. Armand entered the restaurant, looking through his coupon book again until he found the right one. He tried to look inconspicuous and not like he was following anyone at all. After all, they were only given two choices about meals as far as he could tell. At least he could eat. His stomach was growling.

The others were ahead of him, but when it was his turn Armand told the host, "Only one. Thank you." He hoped he'd be able to see from where he was seated.

[OOC: for someone who is writing a character trying to be stealthy, I'm sure failing at subtlety tonight. :D]

[secret-orchard.livejournal.com]

Once he was seated, Armand was disappointed to learn that his roommate seemed to manage to avoid talking about himself much at all. He ate some of the 'chicken fried steak,' decided it was an abomination against the gods of cuisine, and departed. He didn't think they'd even noticed him listening.

[gone here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/446999.html)]

[31st-of-china.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/447260.html?thread=36274204#t36274204)]

The bar would've been his pick, except what they had as currency only went to the Twin Pines restaurant, and other than that, he was broke. That in itself was something of a novelty considering that, 1) he had a bottomless pit of a gold card and 2) minus that, people seemed more than happy to throw offerings at him (whether he wanted them or not).

Sanzo wasn't about to go and stoop to petty theft either. Maybe Gojyo didn't mind scrounging around for a living, but Sanzo was different.(He c could only imagine what the kappa was like before Hakkai got his hands on him, but Sanzo's imagination wasn't particularly generous towards the roach)

The monk liked to think he was above that.

It didn't take too long to locate the restaurant. Not the most ornate deal, but he'd seen much worse too.

Sanzo glanced back at Goku.

"Don't you dare pig out." he said under his breath. "I'm not covering for your ass if you eat them out of their entire kitchen."

[prevails.livejournal.com]

[strayfag]

"Not in my experience." Artemis wasn't the only one with 'mismatched' eyes after all. Badou wanted to ask just who went about telling the boy he looked 'exotic' but he decided against it. Exotic was a nice way of putting...whatever it was Artemis could be called that wasn't as nice. There was just something about the kid that made him uncomfortable no matter how he acted. He had yet to decide if that was Artemis' fault.

The only greeting he gave the person at the front was a half-assed wave from behind Artemis and a weary I-just-got-pulled-along smile. He was well aware of what a strange pair they made, especially with Artemis playing alpha, but the people here had to be expecting this sort of thing by now.

[byname-bynature.livejournal.com]

[Meta-ing us some NPCs... because nothing fantastically horrible is going to happen... yet. XD]

The seating hostess sat both Artemis and Badou at a small table near the windows. The boy smiled up at her, but Badou would probably be able to detect the small muscle that went in Artemis face when the waitress set a children's menu down in front of him. For the love of...

The waitress set down two glasses of water and walked away. Artemis gave a small sigh. "Would you lend me that," he indicated the adult menu. "When you are finished?"

[vladville.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/446999.html?thread=36558359#t36558359) awaiting Soubi]

It wasn't so bad... at least, it was better than a fast food restaurant. Soul food? Vlad wondered if there would be a preset menu, and hoped he would at least have the chance to order something that wasn't chicken fried steak. At the worst, he supposed he was in good shape, but he didn't want to risk letting himself turn to Jack Fenton proportions during his time of somewhat enforced inactivity during daytime at the Institute. And it still sounded a bit repulsive on basic principles, despite the reviewers' effusive commentary. At least the coupon claimed a free lunch, which was rather open-ended and soothed some of Vlad's worries. And it was still not Tasty Burger.

Sitting alone, waiting for either a menu or a waitress to bring a prescribed meal, he glanced around a little more. It was slightly surprising to see which other patients had chosen this location for their meal. A few looked young enough to be more appropriate to a venue featuring ball pits, but then again, they could be thousands of years old in their universe or simply very mature for their ages. There was really no telling, here.

[beloved-less.livejournal.com]

Sobui was going to let Ritsuka miss him. He knew it was cruel and he wished he could watch the boy, but... Ritsuka wanted them both to make friends. So Soubi was merely obeying that order and hopefully letting the boy realise he shouldn't need or want friends besides Soubi.

He looked around for a place to sit. There was little chance of being alone and he was on a mission, so he picked out the person he felt would be the least annoying. And that was the man who looked like a ruthless art dealer. He ought to do.

Soubi approached and smiled. "Do you mind if I join you? The place is a little busy and maybe we'll be served quicker this way?"

[numberii.livejournal.com]

((From here.)) (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/446761.html?thread=36535593#t36563241)

"Well, here we are," Xigbar lightly said as he strode through the front door of Twin Pines, hoping that Teisel was following behind closely. There seemed to be a fair amount of crazies as it was, but no more than a busy lunch service would have; hopefully that wouldn't influence things.

"Might not wanna make that 'bazooka' comment too loudly," he cheerfully added, "pillaging's not so much fun if you can't get away from the scene of the crime."

[no-barbarian.livejournal.com]

Now, what the hell would some random insane asylum have to do with- Wait. Hadn't Xigbar mentioned being an asylum inmate earlier? Teisel had dismissed it then, along with most of the gibberish Xigbar had been spouting, but now he was curious. And irritated. Just because he was a traveller didn't mean he had to know the name of every asylum, hospital and prison in the world.

He put aside his questions for now, though, content to follow his half-baked companion inside the restaurant. It was a pretty unassuming little dive, but food was food. Maybe lunch would help. I'm not sure what it'll help at this point, but it's gotta help something...

"There's one thing we can agree on, yeah," Teisel sighed. He wasn't sure what would be worth taking in this town, much less worth getting caught taking, but he could probably find a few thing that were worth blowing up. "I'd feel a hell of a lot better, though."

[high-prosecutor.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/446999.html?view=36588311#t36588311)]

Quaint.

The word had ceased to have much of a positive connotation a little while ago. The fact remained, this whole place was an anachronism of the highest order, as if it had been frozen in time somewhere around 1951. A few things had changed here and there, but for the most part, the modern conveniences that were even evident in most of the small towns in Europe weren't here. There were no internet cafes, no music stores...but that wasn't all.

What kind of small town didn't have newspapers lying around? Yes, there were newspaper clippings in the window of the Twin Pines Restaurant, but they were yellowed from the sun, and none of them displayed any dates. They could have been a couple of days, or a couple of years old.

Edgeworth asked the hostess to seat him, and then looked around. He saw a few people he recognized, and waved hello to them. It looked as if they were all busy with conversations, so he didn't interrupt.

The hostess said that his table was ready a moment later. She seated him at a table near one of the windows. He took his journal and a pen out, opening up to a blank page. Maybe he could take a few notes while waiting on the menu.

[pleading-ngri.livejournal.com]

So much for a dashing getaway.

That was a terrible idea. It isn't as if I know how to steal a car anyway. Or, you know, drive, Phoenix mused, glancing in the spotless picture window of the next establishment he passed. He looked back down again after a second, and kept walking for another three or four steps before stopping and backing up as his brain finally caught up with his feet.

He shouldn't have been surprised to spot Edgeworth on the other side of the glass, seated at an unimpressive little table in an equally unimpressive little restaurant, frowning down at his journal. They did have a habit of running into each other, after all.

For a moment, he considered tapping on the autumn-cold pane, testing how long it took Edgeworth to realize that he wasn't being pestered by a homeless man. (Probably a little while -- living in a city had that effect.) But something else occurred to him, and he leaned close to the glass, breathing on it enough to fog before scrawling a carefully-backwards "HI" with his finger. Then he knocked on the window.

It was childish, but after one of the longest days of his life, he felt entitled to a little stupidity.

[spirit-forge.livejournal.com]

Stepping into the store, the restaurant instantly gave him that homely feel, the kind you get from having a nice dinner around the clean table with your warm family. The waitresses were pretty perky about their job, which was kinda surprising for Archer. After all, how much were they getting paid? Sure it was their family's diner, but they were kinda going overboard. One of them in particular was awfully friendly, the one with "Jackie" on her name tag. Unfortunately for her, Archer was there for the meal, not for the view.

"We'll just be having the free meals," Archer said, handing her his coupon. He could of sworn she made a "tsk" sound as she walked away with their orders, but it was probably just his imagination.

He hoped they didn't have to wait long. There was no telling if Hanyuu's stomach would last. That thought brought a smile to his lips.

[meironohosoku.livejournal.com]

Country fried steak? She couldn't tell much from glancing over the articles taped to the windows, but that seemed to be what the restaurant was known for. Hanyuu resisted the urge to sigh. She was sure it was good--most of the food in Landel's was--but she wished they'd sometimes serve food she was more used to.

Speaking of what she wished they'd have, she wondered if Doyleton had any places like Angel Mort... Hanyuu really would've liked to have one (preferably more) of their desserts right about now.

Her stomach seemed to agree with that thought and it gave another low rumble, causing the girl to blush yet again. "Auauu," she murmured shifting from one foot to the other. Even if the food wasn't like Angel Mort’s desserts, she hoped they were able to eat soon. That was embarrassing...

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

[Coming from here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/446999.html?thread=36527639#t36527639)]

Max slipped into the Twin Pines, casting a quick glance around. It looked like any other small town restaurant she might have stopped on a road trip somewhere, although a good deal cleaner than most back in her end of the world.

She waited for Wash to slip in behind her, then indicated there were two of them to the waiting waitress, who led them to a little table near one of the windows. Sinking into a chair, she slouched back in it and made herself comfortable, waiting for the waitress to slip away with their drink orders before picking up the conversation once more.

"So you avoided anything overly hungry last night? Lucky for you. Although the flashlight tends to help with the whole dark thing somewhat, you know."

[notaleaf.livejournal.com]

The restaurant was modest, but actually quite nice, especially by his standards. The crew almost never stopped in anywhere to eat. Small-town bars were the highest quality they went for.

Wash slid into the seat across from her. "We heard something overly hungry," he said. "But we avoided it."

Although, come to think of it, the noise hadn't sounded that much on the hungry side. It was more on the fighty-combat side which meant it could just as well have been two patients attempting to resolve their problems.

"It does," he agreed. "I learned that last night. You didn't run into anything overly hungry, did you?"

[tranquil-seas.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/446999.html?thread=36584727).]

Stepping into the quaint establishment, the first thing Michiru noticed was that quite a few people had decided this was a good place to eat as well. She couldn't tell from a glance exactly who belonged to the institution, but considering the number of people departing the bus, it was possible that they were of the majority in here.

She paused just inside the door, waiting for Kunzite to join her before making any table arrangements with the hostess.

[vessavana.livejournal.com]

Kunzite, too, noticed the popularity of the establishment evident in its business, a factor he felt to be to his benefit, should the discussion of Sailor Senshi ever make itself present. A quick inspection of the clientèle might have pointed out familiar faces if the swordsman was particularly interested in looking for them. As it was, however, he was focused on Michiru, and walked with her to the woman standing at the lit dais by the door.

"Two, please...by a window if possible," he said, not noting whether that seating arrangement was possible; nevertheless, he hoped he'd be able to be somewhere where he could admire the impressive greenery that surrounded the small restaurant.

"You arrived last night?" he repeated from her earlier comment. "That must have been quite an introduction to this place...I'm sure you've seen what kinds of things lurk the halls of Landel's when the orderlies turn off the lights..."

[sheisthecause.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/446999.html?thread=36668695#t36668695)]

Meche sighed with relief as they stepped into the restaurant--she hadn't realized how cold she'd been until the warm air started thawing her hands and face out (and what a strange feeling that was, after all this time).

"Hello," she greeted the host politely. "May we have a table for two, please?" They could pull up an extra chair if Senna managed to find them again.

[kanpekinasenshi.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/446999.html?thread=36764183#t36764183)]

Compared to the dramatic declarations outside, Seiya was quieter as she stepped indoors, still holding the door open for Wally. It was a restaurant, she did have proper manners. At least it didn't look too fancy, more of a down-home feel. Between that, and letting out her little burst of aggression, she exhaled slowly. Some of the pressure from her forehead was gone.

"They said the chicken-fried steak is the best in the county on one of the signs outside," Seiya pointed out. "I've got no idea what that is, but it sounds impressive. Still, they're your coupons, so you decide what you want. I'm just going to be your cheerleading squad." She handed over her own coupon as promised.

There was an odd feeling at the back of her neck, but the restaurant was crowded enough that she hadn't noticed someone familiar dining in the same establishment, and credited it to her loss of calm outside, pent up adrenaline from days of stress leaking out a bit. And it wasn't exactly Wally's fault, the poor guy had to be confused. "I hope you don't mind having a somewhat dangerous woman as a dining companion, though. I promise I won't write anything nasty about you in my songs, okay? Actually... I've been having a good time so far. Thanks, Wally."

[scarletspeedstr.livejournal.com]

Wally laughed, relieved that things seemed to be settling back to normal. The sudden aggressiveness had really thrown him, though in a way it was kind of like being with Shayera. But without the giant mace. "Sure, impress you with my eating skills or arm wrestle. Got it. Just promise you won't break my arm if we do end up wrestling, I kinda need it."

He followed Seiya inside, letting the door swing shut behind him. The restaurant was his kinda place, nice and relaxed. At the mention of chicken-fried steak, his face lit up. "You have no idea what you're missing out on," he told Seiya, "this is one of my favourite foods." Well, strictly speaking anything that he could eat reasonably cheaply, in large quantities, and enjoy were his favourites, but he didn't want her to think he was being ungrateful. He accepted her coupon with a delighted smile, wasting no time at all in ordering two chicken-fried steaks and leading the way to a miraculously empty table.

"Hey, I've dined with my fair share of beautiful, dangerous women before," Wally said cheerfully, "and none of them offered me their share of the food, which makes you the best in my book." He smiled at the promise not to write anything nasty about him, though the thought hadn't crossed his mind. It just didn't seem like something someone like Seiya would do. "I've been having a great time too," he assured her. "Now, I believe I have a few meals here with my name on them, so prepare to be amazed!" And with that, he dug in. He made an effort not to use superspeed while doing so and to eat as neatly as possible, but the burger meal earlier had barely made a dent in his appetite and the smell of the restaurant had reminded him of how desperately hungry he was, so it was an effort not to break down and just inhale his food as he normally would. Well, she did say she wanted to be impressed...

[degozaruyo.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/446999.html?thread=36779287#t36779287).]

When they finally got to the restaurant, Kenshin beamed at the young woman out front. She looked nothing like Tae or Tsubame, but she was working the same job and greeting the same people as the two girls back home. Perhaps the more things changed, the more they really did stay the same. People were the same wherever you went.

"Two please," he said brightly.

[damnrudecock.livejournal.com]

Sanosuke had to wonder at the woman standing there, something that seemed so out of place just because it was familiar. Looked like the future finally had something in common with the past. Or something. Sano wasn't going to exactly spend too much time thinking about it or staring or anything. Besides, the woman was already leading them inside.

By the time they had been seated, Sano decided that things here were better than the cafeteria in the hospital, but still not Akebeko. It definitely smelled better than that other place though.

"And sure it matters what you say. I only smack you when you say something really dumb." Sanosuke grinned across the table to his friend, then looked around. "You think they might have sukiyaki here?" It was a long shot, but man, Sano would be much happier if they did.

[son-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/447260.html?thread=36788508) with Claire]

Okay, so the point was to walk in casual. Clark didn't have money. He thought there was a coupon in the booklet the staff gave him but he wasn't one hundred percent sure. But maybe if they walked in like they had every right to be here and really, really did have money for this, then maybe they'd have enough time to sit down. Surely they wouldn't think it was weird if one of them happened to need to go to the bathroom and got lost enough to look for the payphone.

Approaching the hostess, Clark smiled politely. "Table for two, please."

[miracle-grow.livejournal.com]

If Claire was surprised by the fact that Clark had just ordered them a table, she didn't show it, although her stomach did give a quietly appreciative growl at the scents that wafted out from the kitchen. Even if they weren't here for the food as their primary goal, she could still grab a quick bite. There'd been coupons for this place, right?

They were shown to a small table and Claire immediately slid into one of the seats, glancing around surreptitiously for the possible phone that had drawn them in here.

[opposingheaven.livejournal.com]

Kenren had wandered for a while after leaving Okita, lost in thought and not really paying much attention to where he was going. It was a lot to deal with recently, and even a god could get tired, especially here. Things had become more than a game since they'd taken Hakkai. Had that really been only a week ago? It felt like years. And now Homura was someone almost completely different and Okita... well, there was something wrong with Okita he could tell. And after being tortured like that, what else could be expected.

And there was the issue of Sanzo to consider. What he'd said had stung worse than anything. He was just to brushing off insults and the sneaky insinuations of the Celestial courts, but that had been different because Sanzo was one of them, someone he'd died to protect and being told that he'd betrayed them all was painful.

He arrived at the restaurant and that was as good a place as any her supposed. He slipped inside, remembering that strange man he'd met last time. He went to find an empty table and stared out of the window morosely while he waited for the menus.

[sugarsweetblood.livejournal.com]

Rhode was in a bad, though strangely playful mood following that spat with the "shinigami". She wanted to find something to cheer her up, but at the same time she wished to find someone that would tolerate her while she attempted to feel better. Just her luck to find Kenren - the not-Bible God - slipping into a place right in front of her.

She slipped in pretty easy for her size and maneuvered around the other people there to find the table where Kenren had gone to. No one was with him either, so that made it better to bother him. Easier more. She would have bothered him even if there had been someone else there, had that been what she wanted to do. "You're easy to attack if you just sit there staring," she warned from behind him, leaning her elbows against his table as she stood.

[adevilmaycry.livejournal.com]

Dante felt classy in his trenchcoat as he walked into the restaurant, prepped and ready to enjoy some dinner. He'd gone into the hardware store earlier that day, and planned to do so again and grab what he could before returning to the institute.

For now though, he wanted two things; pizza, and something sweet. Cake sounded excellent.

He was seated by a polite waitress who took his order. A whole pizza with pepperoni and extra cheese. And here, they had pizza with cheese in the crust! It was a beautiful thing. He also ordered cake; three pieces for himself. Not like had a concept of 'bad eating habits' or anything. He ate what he wanted when he wanted.

He sensed nothing amiss; the booth appeared perfectly normal. Of course, Dante wasn't in the habit of looking under tables before sitting at them. Nor did ordering cake promise any unusual circumstances, normally...

[for GLaDOS]

[2cuprhubarb.livejournal.com]

GLaDOS, by contrast, had spent a vast majority of the day in the grocery store, staring at the assortment of cakes they had. It was amazing, and beautiful, and all the positive adjectives she had ever been privy to knowing. Her curiosity about the cakes had been hesitantly indulged, but given that she had no money, she wasn't able to buy one for herself.

Theft, of course, was a viable option, but the clothing she was wearing didn't make for excellent thievery. So she had left the grocery store without cake, and stood for some time, and then gone to the restaurant everybody else seemed to be going to for dinner (or at least, some of them). Here, she hoped, they would have cake.

The waitresses never did find her.

It wasn't until someone sat down at the table she was conveniently hiding under and ordered, to her delight, cake, that she bothered to make herself known. When the food was brought and the cake happily delivered, she slowly rose out from under the table. Only the top half of her head was visible as steely black eyes stared straight at the three - three! - slices of cake.

... she didn't seem to notice who they belonged to.